


In Four Days Time

by EternalScout89



Category: Cosplay - Fandom, Doctor Who, Sherlock - Fandom, Supernatural
Genre: Convention, F/M, Fluff, Romance, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-14
Updated: 2014-02-14
Packaged: 2018-01-12 07:56:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1183817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EternalScout89/pseuds/EternalScout89
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anything can happen at a Con, you might even find the companion to your doctor cosplay...</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Four Days Time

**Author's Note:**

> Taking a deviation from my normal, smut-centric writing, I tried my hand at a little romantic piece. Although, I will admit, I do have a sequel already in the works which will heavily involve smut!
> 
> As always, constructive criticism is appreciated!

~DAY ONE~

8:35 AM

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

James Wesson stood impatiently in the elevator as it descended, practically bouncing in his place. He’d been waiting for this convention for the past year, since he’d had to skip the previous one. He shifted his brown leather trench coat, giving a tug at the blue suit jacket underneath. Glancing down, he double checked that his bright red converse were securely tied, and patted his pockets for his sonic screwdriver and brainy specs. Feeling them safe and secure, he couldn’t help but grin as the elevator doors opened to the lobby of the convention center’s hotel, already near to a madhouse of characters.

Stepping out, he took a deep breath, letting it out with a sigh, as he felt knots he’d kept for weeks finally relax. At long last, here he was, among his people. Striding across the wide foyer, he couldn’t help but marvel at some of the costumes. Where else but a con could you see Ezio Auditore da Firenze idly chatting with Yoko Littner, or Iron Man having a duel with Castiel?

Joining with the crowd, James started making his way down the long thin skyway to the convention center itself. He’d made plans to meet with some of his close friends by the entrance, and a quick glance at his watch told him he was already running late. He tried to hurry his pace, but found himself rebuffed by the wall of costumed humanity in front of him

Resigning himself to continuing at this pace, he started looking around, admiring some of the more detailed costumes, wondering at the identities of others, and chuckling at the occasional antics of a pair of Deadpool cosplayers.

While watching them attempt to kill each other with pool noodles, a light laugh behind him cut through the noise of the crowd. Glancing back, he saw a fairly petite woman, a little shorter than his own 5’7”, also watching the Deadpools, whom he could only describe as stunning. Her blonde fell across her face as she laughed half-covering sparkling green eyes. With some effort, he drew his eyes away from her face to see, with no small amount of glee, that she wore a Union Jack t-shirt under a dark jacket. That, combined with the hair, clearly labeled her as Rose Tyler, one of his characters more famous companions.

After a minute of decision, James started letting himself fall back in the crowd until he walked even with her, then leaned over and adopted his best Tenth Doctor accent. “And just what are you laughing at, Miss Tyler?”

The woman looking over at him in some surprise, before seeing his garb and grinning at him. “Oh, a pair of clowns, Doctor. And just where have you been hanging about, might I ask?” She responded, in her own fair imitation of Billie Piper’s accent.

James grinned back, slipping easily into his chosen persona. “Oh, here and there and every-when… Y’know, just about.” He reached out a hand to her, dropping the accent in favor of the slight drawl of his central Texan home. “Name’s James, and no, it’s not followed by Bond, it’s Wesson.”

She grasped his hand firmly as they dodged around a Weeping Angel cosplayers. “I’m Alex, Alex Winter, nice to meet you. You a regular at the con?”

He shook his head. “Sad to say, nope. My first time was the year before last, but I couldn’t quite make it last year. I have to say, though, I am loving the costumes this year! Especially yours! A friend of mine wants to do that same cosplay, but she just can’t find that shirt in her price range.”

Alex glanced down at the shirt with a smile. “Thanks, I’m pretty proud of it. And, to be honest, a friend of mine made it special for me.”

James nodded. “Ah, yeah, always nice to have friends with their tailor skill leveled up.”

Alex laughed at the comment. “Yeah, that’s certainly true!” She perked up suddenly and started waving her hand over the crowd. “Oh, there’s my friend! Up at the entrance! Hey, Jordan! Over here!” She hollered, waving to make herself seen through the crowd.

James craned his head up to see past the Midna headdress in front of them to his own friend Jordan waving back. “Hey, is your friend Jordan the one dressed as Rory the Last Centurion? Because, if so, that’s my friend Jordan, too!”

Alex raised an eyebrow at him as they angled through to the side of the crowd. “Yeah, he is, actually! Well, I’d say that’s a coincidence, but as Sherlock and Mycroft once said, the universe…”

James jumped in, finishing the quote with her. “… Is rarely so lazy, exactly! Especially around me, I mean come on… Time Lord, right here.”

Alex chuckled as they came up to Jordan and his girlfriend, Christine, who was dressed as Amy Pond, Kiss-o-gram. Jordan quickly jumped into the conversation. “So, I see you two have already met each other. Jim, meet Alex. Alex, meet Jim.”

James’ eye twitched as Jordan called him Jim again. He never had much cared for the nickname, but he’d long ago given up on trying to correct his friend. Turning to Alex, he gave a shallow bow, ducking his head as he held out his hand to her. “Miss Alex, it is indeed a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Alex giggled, a surprisingly pleasant sound to James’ ears, as she curtsied, gently placing her hand in his. “Oh, likewise, Mr. James, a true, true honor.”

James, raising his head slightly, looked into her face, for a moment, seeing the pure joy in her, the plain and simple love of life sparkling in her eyes as she smiled at him.

Jordan laughed a little sarcastically, using his sword to break their hands apart. “Yeah, all right, come on! Figures, the first two friends I meet with this weekend are sassier than Cas… Ok, so I figured we’d hit the Dealer’s Hall first, get a feel for the place, since there’s not many panels scheduled for today. They’re actually being nice about moving hotels for once.”

James, blinking a little as he returned to the moment, subtly feeling his fingers, somehow still able to feel her light grip on them, nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good to me. Just don’t expect me to buy anything, I’m saving my cash until the last day.”

Alex nodded in agreement. “Oh, absolutely not, we have to wait until the deals get good!”

Christine chuckled as she started to steer them back into the crowd going to the Dealer’s Hall. “Well, what do you know, they’re both cheapskates, too!”

James pulled out his sonic to give his hands something better to do while he responded. “Hey, it’s not a crime to want a decent deal, right?” He quickly shifted into his Ten voice. “Did I ever tell you about the time I traveled for 3 decades, the long way mind you, just so I could find a Relocating Crypto-Inducer for the Tardis? Well, it was an adventure, let me just tell you…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Through the course of the day, James ended up staying alongside Alex, even after Jordan and Christine had left to attend the few panels they were interested in that day. They wandered along Dealer’s Hall and Artist’s Alley, oohing and ahing as they admired both artwork and cosplay. As they talked, they quickly discovered they shared a number of fandoms, ranging from the common, such as the ubiquitous SuperWhoLock, all the way to the more obscure, like Rooster Teeth and DHMIS. The more they got to know each other, the more he started to feel a true connection to her, and he soon found himself hoping that she felt the same way. Eventually, when he realized he couldn’t help but watch her as she laughed at the antics of a dueling Deadpool and Slenderman, he asked if she wanted to join him to the 60’s dance being held as the first night’s dance. When she happily said yes, a plan started to form in James’ mind, one that required him to make a return to the Dealer’s Hall…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

10:25 PM

James waited patiently by Alex’s hotel room, leaning against the railing and looking out over the atrium, still full of mingling con-goers. He smiled as he watched friends laughing, sharing drinks, and just having the time of their lives.

He had changed out of his Doctor outfit, into a more casual dark jeans, button-up shirt, and vest combo. Looking down at his hands, he forced himself to stop fiddling with the small box. He hoped it wouldn’t seem too much for having just met her, but either way, he’d fixed it in his mind that he’d give it to her tonight.

Hearing the door open behind him, he turned, ready to snarkily ask what took so long, but the words died on his lips as Alex shut the door behind her and turned to look at him.

She had removed what he now knew to be a wig, freeing her short-cut hair, which he saw was predominantly a dark blue, with silver accents running through it. Continuing down, he saw she had changed into a fairly simple dark red dress, cut off just above the knee, yet somehow, she made it look like an evening gown.

Alex smirked at him as he stood there, awestruck. “Wow, I must really look good, if I rendered the Doctor himself speechless…”

James, blinking and shaking his head sharply, smiled as he came up to her. “Wow, you look just… Wow.”

Alex chuckled at his reaction, ducking her head as she needlessly adjusted her hair. “Well… Thanks, I thought the dress might be a little, well… little. But, with that reaction, I guess it’s just fine.”

James nodded, and then dropped his gaze to the box in his hand. “Oh, yeah, definitely… So, um… I know I said earlier I wasn’t going to buy anything on the first day, but… Well, I kinda noticed you really seemed to like this one, so… I ended up getting it. So, here.” He finished by all but pushing the box into her hands, much to her bemusement.

She held it up, gingerly shaking it and looking it over with a smile. “Ooh, a gift? Why, we’ve only just met, Mr. James! What _will_ the neighbors think?” She said, sporting an exaggerated Southern Belle accent.

James grinned, waving a hand. “Ah, it was... It was nothing, I wanted to. Honestly, I like buying things for people. Go on, open it, maybe you can wear it tonight to the 60’s dance.”

Alex cocked an eyebrow at him as she started slowly prying it open. “Oh, so it’s something that I wear, is it? Hmm, so small, I wonder what it could be?” She finally lifted the lid, gasping as she saw the small yet intricate clockwork-themed necklace lying inside. “Oh, you really shouldn’t have! It was so expensive when I saw it!”

James grinned at her reaction, waving off the statement. “Ah, it’s nothing. Besides, I managed to talk the guy down a little bit. Fair warning, though, in case you swing by the booth again: He, uh… he might think we’re dating.”

Alex smirked at him as she pulled the necklace out of the box. “Oh, he might, might he? Already trying to put some moves on me, are you? Because if so, I’m not sure whether or not I should commend you for it, I haven’t had a guy start telling folks we’re dating before we actually are…”

James chuckled a bit nervously, rubbing at the back of his neck as he ducked his head. “Well, I mean, I was trying to talk the guy down, and the idea came to me, so I went for it. It was a gamble, and it paid off.” He glanced up to see her looking over the necklace as it dangled from her hand, thinking for a second before deciding to go for broke. “I will admit, I can’t say I care for being a liar. Unless, of course, you care to make it a truth told in advance…”

Alex looked past the necklace at him, emerald green eyes sparking with something deep within as she casually and purposefully looked him up and down. “Hmm… No promises, but… we’ll see.” She quickly turned to open her door again to put the box inside, and then quickly put the necklace on, stepping back out to present it to James. “Well? How does it look?”

James smiled as he took her in, memorizing how she looked standing in front of him. “Oh, you look absolutely stunning. You ready to knock ‘em dead on the dance floor tonight?” He said, holding out his hand to her.

Alex smiled back, taking his hand. “Definitely. Let’s go show them how it’s done.”

 

~DAY TWO~

1:40 AM

James stood on the edge of the crowd, bouncing on his heels as the bass thumped through the room and lights flashed over the people. He’d never been much of a rave fan, but now he saw that was only because he’d never actually gone to one before. Feeling the bass flowing through him, the people jumping and dancing around him… He could certainly see the appeal.

Craning his neck, he looked over the heads of the crowd in front of him to see Alex dancing exuberantly in the middle of a group still in their cosplay. He smirked, glancing down at the dark tweed cape coat and blue scarf of his own Sherlock cosplay, thinking how he could hardly blame them. Sometimes, you just have too much fun with other people to bother changing.

Looking back up he was surprised to see a grinning Alex coming toward him out of the crowd, also still in her Fem!Moriarty costume, cashmere coat flapping as she bounced forwards, holding out her hands to him. “COME ON, JOIN THE FUN!” She shouted excitedly over the din as she grabbed his hands, pulling him into the morass of people. “YOU’LL LOVE IT, TRUST ME!”

James laughed, halfheartedly resisting her motions, but silently allowed himself to be dragged into the chaos of jumping and dancing at the heart of the crowd. She eventually let him go, once they were near to the front, and started jumping and dancing in front of him, grin affixed to her face.

At first, he stuck to his tried and true dance style of simply bouncing slightly in place, but the music soon started to do its work on him, and he was lost to the beat, jumping about and having the time of his life.

After a time, the music made another shift, this time to a slower beat, less frenetic and more seductive, and the dancing changed as well, much to James’ approval. Alex stood a few feet away from him, and the way she was dancing utterly captivated him.

The rest of the crowd seemed to dim as her arms rose over her head, her hips and shoulders bouncing in time with the music, and her eyes closed as she moved with the beat. He stood there smiling, entranced, barely moving as he watched this vision before him, her coat twirling open, showing the almost tight-fitting suit underneath.

His vision was shortly interrupted, however, as he realized someone dressed as Gurren Lagann’s Kamina was dancing closely behind her. Her eyes still closed, she began to clearly dance with the other man, slowly starting to grind against him, arms reaching up and back to hook around his neck, ecstatic grin still plastered on her face. The rest of the crowd fell away from his sight while James’ already slow movements gradually stilled as he watched, his thoughts and feelings thrown into a sudden turmoil. Alex slowly turned her head and opened her eyes, locking eyes with him for a brief moment before he suddenly turned, pushing his way through the crowd and out of the room.

He walked swiftly through the wide open area outside the ballroom where the rave was being held, pushing past other late-night con-goers as he strode out the glass doors to the garden area outside, still taken by surprise by the strength of the emotions he was feeling. The small rational part of his mind shouted to him that she was still nothing more than a friend, but that voice was being easily overridden by his emotions, crying out in a sense of irrational betrayal.

He kept walking until he nearly bowled over a group of Naruto cosplayers, and finally sat down heavily on a bench beneath an expansive oak tree. Leaning back against the trunk, looking up through the branches into the night sky, he thought back on the day, wondering if there had been some detail he had missed that should have told him that she hadn’t been interested, but try as he might, he couldn’t.

He remembered walking her back to her room at nearly 2 in the morning, sore and laughing from the hours of dancing. He couldn’t help but smile as he recalled meeting her a little after 9 for breakfast, before they started on the long list of panels they both wanted to attend. He remembered how her face lit up when John Barrowman stepped out on the stage, and how she practically went catatonic when she won the chance to meet him the next day. He recalled how long they sat and talked over their theories about what was coming for the series 5 of Sherlock.

Try as he might, though, he couldn’t see anything that told him she was uninterested in him. _Maybe…_ , he thought, _maybe_ _she just doesn’t see me in that way._ He hoped that wasn’t the case, but a growing part of him said it was the only thing that made sense. He’d had a few crushes and had them dashed before, so he was familiar with what he was feeling, though they’d never formed this swiftly. He hadn’t thought someone could make him feel like this after only two days knowing them.

As he slowly calmed himself back down, he idly wondered if this had something more than a mere crush, or if it was something more. If so, then his new situation looked even bleaker than before.

He sat there, engrossed in his own thoughts, when he heard his name being called. He looked down to see Alex hurrying over to him, an almost curious look on her face. Standing up, he readied himself to hear what he knew would be the final nail in his coffin.

Alex slowed as she came up to him, a half-smile ghosting across her face. “Hey, here you are. Why’d you leave so quickly, I thought you were having a good time?”

James rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly, looking down and away from her gaze. “Uh, no, no, I was, I just… You know, with the heat and the… The bodies and all, I just needed a little air, y’know? I’m all right, I promise…”

Alex nodded, frowning slightly at his clear excuse. “Oh, well… That’s good, I guess… At least it’s a nice night to be out here; nice and cool after the body heat inside that ballroom…” She looked down, kicking a little awkwardly at a tuft of grass poking above the rest.

James looked up at her, hearing the hesitation in her voice. “Yeah, yeah, it is… It’s… Temperate, I guess.”

Alex let out a nervous giggle. “Are we really doing this, talking about the weather?”

James couldn’t help but smile a little as he listened to her laugh, but the smirk quickly dropped from his face as he resolved to tell her the truth, flat-out. “Ok, here’s the truth. I left that rave because… Well, because you started dancing with that guy.” He held up a hand to silence her already forming protests. “No, please, just let me finish. You see… Well, to tell the truth, I… I like you. I really like you. I know, it’s weird, I only just met you yesterday, but I can’t help how I feel, you know? Now, I guess you made it pretty clear in there you don’t feel the same way, considering how you were dancing with that guy, but if you don’t mind, I think I’d prefer it to be laid out nice and plain, from your own mouth: what do you think about me? If you don’t have any feelings, then that’s fine; I’ll be on my way. But I need to know for sure.”

Alex stood in front of him in silence, visibly processing what she was hearing. As he finished speaking, she slowly moved to sit down on the bench, putting a hand on his arm to pull him down beside her, as she kept her eyes on his face. He sat there for a few minutes, letting her work out her response in her own time, though he soon started becoming fidgety. Every time before that he’d admitted how he felt to someone, any possibility of a relationship was ended with their very next words, and even though he was sure that possibility was already gone here, a part of him still clearly dreaded hearing it.

After a minute, Alex began to speak, slowly and softly. “Well, first off, I’d like you to know I appreciate how difficult it must have been to say all that. But, in all honesty, you really don’t have anything to worry about. Actually, what you saw in there was a mistake, plain and simple. You see, I…” Here, she trailed off, dropping her gaze towards the ground. “Well, honestly, I think sort of subconsciously, I… I thought that… Well, that it was you I was dancing against. But, then, I looked around, and I saw you over there, and I just froze. And then, you just took off and…”

James could only sit there as she trailed off, stunned at her words. His mind struggled to catch up, to realize the meaning behind what she was saying. While it worked, another point struck him, one that he quickly voiced, partly out of a real need to know, and partly to give him more time to process. “Oh. W-well… Well, then, if you thought you were dancing with me, then how come it took you as long as it did to come out after me?”

Alex looked back up sharply, clearly about to go on the defensive. “OK, now, that part, I didn’t have much of a choice until the end. The guy who was dancing with was just about the biggest prick I’ve ever met at a con! When I saw you turn and leave, I tried to go after you, but that guy kept trying to dance in front of me, until I had to push past him! And even then, he tried to grab me as I passed… So, I ended up having to deck the assbutt, ok? And then, I had to deal with security, but fortunately, they were very sympathetic… I only had to answer a few questions before they figured out what happened.”

James sat back against the tree in surprise, a smile slowly growing on his face as he pictured her swinging out against Kamina. “Really? Well, somehow, that does not surprise me in the least. Tell me you laid him out, that would just be the cherry on the top of this story!”

Alex started to smile back, relaxing some as her story had the desired effect. “Well, I don’t quite have that good an arm… But, you can bet he’ll remember me every time he brushes his teeth…”

“Oh, that’s just fantastic!” James said, laughing aloud at this, and now openly grinning. After a moment of reveling in this joy, he quieted himself, looking over at her in a new light. “So… You thought you were dancing with me, did you? Gotta admit, I’m not sure what I think about that, if that’s the way you dance with guys you only met the day before…”

Alex grinned, lightly whacking his arm with the back of her hand. “Oh, shut up, you! I can just about guarantee that you wouldn’t have said that if I had started dancing with you!”

James chuckled, shaking his head. “Well, you’re not wrong there; I suspect I’d have gone right along with it. But, the actual point I was aiming for was more along the lines of… You like me?”

Alex blinked at him a couple of times, slowly smiling at him. “Well… of course. Yeah, of course I like you. Would I have spent two days with you if I hadn’t? Before you say anything else, yes, I mean “like” with the same meaning I can hear that you do…” As if to prove her words, she leaned in and gave him a quick, soft kiss. “See? I’m sure you know me well enough by now to know that I wouldn’t do that if I didn’t mean it.”

James smiled at her, forgoing words as he leaned forward to return the kiss, though at a much slower pace than she had, slipping his hand around her head, pulling her deeper into the kiss. After a time, he pulled back, smiling as he noticed her slightly heavier breathing. “Yeah, I do know you, just like I figured you’d be fine with that…”

Alex smiled back, nodding slowly. “Oh, definitely fine with that… But I’m afraid that’s as far as you’re going to get with me, understand?”

“Oh, absolutely, no question there,” James nodded in agreement. “I’d have said the same thing, to be perfectly honest. Besides, it’s past midnight, we should both probably head on to bed, you know?”

Alex stood up, audibly popping her back and arms as she did. “Yeah, that definitely sounds like a plan. So, see you in the morning then?”

James, standing along with her, stretched his neck, similarly popping it, a thought occurring to him. “Definitely see you then. So, does this mean we’re calling tomorrow a date?” He smirked at her, a part of him still not really expecting the answer he wanted.

Alex smiled softly, standing on her tip-toes to kiss him on the cheek. “Maybe we are, maybe we’re not. Why don’t we save that topic for tomorrow morning, hmm?”

James nodded, wrapping his arms around her for a brief hug. “Sounds like a plan to me… See you in the morning, Miss Winter.”

Alex giggled, slipping out of his arms and turning to walk back towards the hotel. “Good night, Mr. Wesson. Thanks for a good day.”

James watched her go down the path and into the hotel, a grin slowly growing on his face. This was already turning into the best con yet, but with this development, it was looking like it might be the best weekend ever.

  
  


~DAY THREE~

12:20 PM

James chuckled as he pulled on his tan Castiel trench coat and helped a still star-struck Alex walk out of the boardroom overlooking the main foyer of the hotel. “Well, that happened, didn’t it? I can’t believe he was cool with me sitting in with you!”

Alex let out a breathy giggle, still visibly overwhelmed by her recent experience. “Heh… Yeah, he was pretty cool, all right… I just didn’t think he’d be that hot in person…”

James looked down at her with a smirk. “Well, come on, it was Captain Jack Hotness we’re talking about, are you sure you didn’t think he would be?”

Alex chuckled at that, ducking her head to cover her slight blush, suddenly fixating on picking a piece of lint from the plaid shirt of her Fem!Dean costume. “Well… Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t…” She waved a hand, dismissing the topic. “Whatever, its lunch, do you want to go somewhere, or what?”

“Well, there’s always those leftovers from last night.” James said after thinking about it. “They’re still sitting pretty up in the mini-fridge up in my room, if you’re cool with having that.”

Alex nodded, angling over toward the elevators as she spoke. “Yeah, that sounds good. The rest of that chicken’s been calling my name, to be honest.”

“Hey, hold on, that chicken was mine!” James reproached her, playfully pushing her as they entered the elevator. “You had the cheeseburger, young missy! Don’t you go trying to steal my food, I like my chicken!”

Alex grinned and pushed him back against one of the glass walls as the doors closed. “Oh, really? I didn’t exactly hear you protesting this morning when I took one of your sausage links.” She said as she leaned against the opposite wall.

James cocked an eyebrow at her, taking a casual stance as he hit the button for his floor. “Well, see, the sausage I didn’t really care about, but chicken? Oh, no, that’s just crossing the line…”

Alex took on her Dean persona, smirking as she walked across the space to grip the lapels of his coat, pulling his face down close to hers. “Just be glad it’s not pie we’re talking about here, else we’d be doing more than just talking…”

James almost chuckled, before he slipped into his best Cas impression, furrowing his brow at her slightly. “Well, we would still only be talking about it, since we have none here. Are you trying to say you would like pie right now? I suppose I could go and get some for you...”

Alex set a half-cocked grin on her face as she pushed him back against the wall, keeping her grip on his coat. “Well, I think we’ll just get some real food, but afterwards, maybe...” She paused here, openly looking him up and down. “Who knows, maybe we could split it...”

James let his persona fall off, smirking as the doors opened on his floor. “Hmm, that sounds pretty good, actually. Maybe the pie wouldn’t be the only thing we split...”

Alex chuckled for a moment as she left the elevator, looking back with a slightly puzzled look on her face. “And what is that even supposed to mean? Seriously, I can’t even tell...”

James hemmed and hawed as he followed her, fishing out his keycard. “Well, um... It meant, you know... Uh... Heh. You know, actually, I don’t really know what it was supposed to mean.” He chuckled a little ruefully as he opened his door, letting her enter and drop onto the bed while he got their food.

“So, you really got a room all by yourself this year, huh?” She said, looking around the surprisingly spacious suite from the bed in appreciation. “Lucky...”

James nodded with a grin, walking into the kitchenette. “Yep, got it all to my lonesome! My last con, I tried to share a room. Nope, never doing that again, if I can help it! Why, you get the nightmare roomies?” He called from around the corner as he set the microwave to warm their food.

Alex stood up, nodding her head as she meandered to look out the window. “Oh, like you wouldn’t believe. Megan apparently needs this nature sound machine in order to get any sleep at all, but whenever she puts it on, Kirsten just has to start playing her tap songs off her phone, and it just gets gets worse from there. I swear, I got Lucifer’s own con room this year...”

James came out from around the corner to join her at the window, tossing his trench coat onto the bed. “I feel your pain there, sorry to hear that... Of course, if you wanted to at least get one good nights sleep, you could always come up here.” He looked at her from the corner of his eye, just in case.

Alex looked at him askance, a smirk playing across her lips. “What, not even 12 hours after we said today could be a date, and you’re already trying to get me in your bed? For shame, sir, for shame...”

James, not quite picking up on the sarcasm, quickly started backpedaling. “No, no, it’s not like that, really, I’d take the couch and you’d have the bed all to yourself, really...”

He slowly trailed off, looking askance at her as she all but collapsed on the nearby chair. “You... You were just joking, weren’t you? That was a joke, and I ran headlong right into it, didn’t I?”

Alex bobbed her head up and down, unable to make any other response through her gales of laughter. James shook his head in exasperation, but couldn’t resist grinning as the microwave beeped, announcing their food was ready. “Yeah, all right, laugh it up, fuzzball... That was a serious offer, by the way. Heaven knows you’d get a better rest up here.”

Alex slowly regained control of herself, rising to follow him into the kitchenette, wiping off a stray tear. “Well, I guess you do have a point there... You know, I may just take you up on that offer, thanks.”

“Ah, it’s no problem at all! Hell, thinking about it, maybe I’ll offer all those con-goers in the halls a place to stay, for a smidge of a kickback, of course... You, naturally, will get in gratis...” James smirked as he said this, handing her the box with her burger.

Alex chuckled lightly, leaning against the counter as she opened the box and started to eat. “I thank you for the preferential treatment, but I’m not sure what your other future tenants would think of that...”

James grinned as he popped a piece of chicken in his mouth. “Well, I’m not going to offer this year, come on! I’d have to have prepare and clean and all that... No, you’re a test run, if you come up here tonight. You know, see how it works, if it works, all that.” He cocked an eyebrow slightly at her, not sure himself if he wanted her to read the second layer in his words.

Alex’s smile slipped for a moment as she caught his underlying meaning, before returning the cocked eyebrow. “Yeah, I can see how that’d be a good thing. Just get a feel for how it’d go, having someone else in the same space and all...” She held his gaze for a minute before nodding sharply. “Yeah, I think I will. You want to hang out up here, I’ll go and get my stuff and check out and come on back up here?”

James blinked for a moment before smiling slightly. “Sure, I can do that. You want to finish your burger now, or just go ahead and do that now?”

Alex set her box down and started towards the door. “May as well do it now, no sense in wasting any more time. See you in a few minutes, roomie...”

James followed her, closing the door after she left and standing there, more than half in shock. This would be the closest proximity he’d been with an unrelated woman in... Well, ever. He walked in a near daze back to the bed and dropped onto the bed with a grin, that slowly turned to a half-frown. This was clearly going faster than anything he’d ever done before. He wondered for a moment if he should be worried, or if he should try and go slower, but he had already invited her to sleep in his room, and she was already getting her stuff, he could hardly renege now, not without looking indecisive...

After several minutes of wrestling with himself, he finally settled the matter in his mind. What was done, was done, and all he could worry about now was what might come. Whatever else happened, he resolved that he’d act only like a gentleman with her.

A knock at the door made him jump, shaking him out of his reverie before he sprang up from the bed to answer it. He pulled the door open to see Alex standing with her bags and sleeping bag, smirking at him. “Well? You gonna give a girl a hand with her luggage, or what?”

With a chuckle, James took a couple of bags inside, thinking that this was going to make for a very interesting night...

  
  


~DAY 4, LAST DAY~

8:50 AM

James sat on the bed, flipping through the TV channels, as he waited for Alex to finish getting ready in the bathroom. “Come on, Alex, check-out time is in ten minutes!” He hollered towards her.

“And I’m going as quick as I can, OK?” She shouted back. “It takes a while to get me looking good, you know? Gimme another five!”

James shook his head with a wry grin. The last hour had been full of hustle and bustle as they danced around each other, trying to get packed to leave. Neither of them had said anything about what, if anything, might happen after the weekend was over. He hoped that she felt the same way about that he did about her, but for all he knew, they would both simply enter the books as a simple con hook-up...

A knock at the door pulled him out of his introspection. “Hey, Jim, come on and open up! Just about time to pack it in anyway!” Jordan hollered from the hall, knocking again.

James stood with a grimace, as he thought grumpily, _It’s too early to deal with this guy..._ Begrudgingly, though, he went to open the door and let him in. “Good morning to you, too, Jordan. How was your night?”

Jordan slapped James’ back as he came in, plopping directly onto the couch. “So, did I not tell you this would be a fun-ass weekend, huh, Jimmy? It was pretty awesome, right?”

James rubbed at the back of his neck with a grin, as he sat on the bed opposite Jordan. “Yeah, you did, and yeah, it definitely was, for more than one reason, to tell the truth...”

Jordan nodded in a self-satisfied way, letting his eyes wander over the room before landing on Alex‘s bags. He cocked an eyebrow, but otherwise adopted a more serious look. “So, she did end up sleeping up here, huh? What time was it you two called it quits? Like, 11? Pretty early, huh?”

James chuckled, nodding. “Yeah, a little early, but we were both ready to call it a night, and since I had the only key to the room...”

Jordan sucked at his teeth as he sat forward on the couch, folding his hands in front of him as he fixed James with a serious look. “So, how long’d you stay up after you came back here? Here, to your hotel room? With your queen-sized bed?”

James looked up sharply, glancing towards the bathroom door nervously. “Jordan, what are you trying to say?”

Jordan dropped his head, shaking it with a sigh. “I think you know exactly what I’m saying. And I think I got my answer right there...”

James sat upright, glaring at Jordan. “You’re not trying to say... You think we... No! Dude, come on, I thought you knew me better than that!”

Jordan looked up at James, an almost suspicious look in his eye. “You mean, you didn’t actually... You know?”

James stood up with a huff, shaking his head at his friend as he went over to lean against the window. “Come on, I thought you knew me better than that, man! I’m not gonna... You know... Do the business with a girl I did, in fact, just meet! I mean, sure, she’s somehow cute and hot at the same time... And she’s got a great laugh... And her hair is just... Oh, and her eyes, don’t even get me started...” His voice slowly trailed off as he stared into the sky, a light smile touching his lips.

Jordan watched him with a slight smile. “So. Good to hear. You really like her, huh?”

James nodded slowly, as if in a daze. “Oh, yeah, definitely...”

“Well, that’s certainly nice to know.” James whipped around at the sound of Alex’s voice to see her leaning against the wall by the bed, idly fiddling with a small bundle of cloth. “Glad last night wasn’t just a failed attempt to get in my pants...”

James sputtered for a moment, his mind still trying to process the fact that she’d heard him, before he could respond. “Oh, come on, now, you know I wouldn’t try anything like that!”

Alex shrugged, a smirk on her face, crossing the room. “Hey, it’s a con, I don’t have a clue what you might try... For all I know, you're some kind of twisted sex fiend. After all, the normal ones tend to be the most twisted inside.” With a half-cocked grin, she held up the cloth hooked over a finger, letting him see that it was a pair of her panties. As his eyes widened at what she was showing him, she stretched the waistband, shooting them into her open suitcase. “You just never know with some people...” She said as she swayed back into the bathroom.

Jordan slowly stood and walked over to James. “Dude... She likes you. I mean, trust me, she really likes you.”

James nodded dumbly, a grin slowly creeping onto his face. “Yeah... So, you think she's going to come to the con next year?”


End file.
